Radio is a popular medium for information and entertainment. Radio stations can reach a national audience. Local radio stations can present content to listeners in a geographical region that lies within the broadcast radius of the radio station. Satellite radio and internet radio can be available to local, national, and global audiences. Advertisers can present advertisements related to their products and services on radio stations to target listeners. In turn, radio stations can generate revenue by airing advertisements provided by advertisers.
One or more radio stations can be available to listeners in a geographical region. All content provided by a radio station can be based on a common theme, e.g., musical genre. In addition to playing music of the same genre, the radio station can also provide information related to music shows, concerts, and the like, that share the radio station's theme. Advertisements presented at such theme-based radio stations can also be specific to the theme of the station. Alternatively, the content presented by a radio station can span over a range of themes, wherein each piece of content can be aired at a different time. Advertisements aired at different times can be related to the theme of the content being aired at that time. In addition, advertisements unrelated to the theme of the radio station or the type of content being aired can be presented on radio stations at any time. Such blanket advertisements can be geared towards listeners within the geographical region to which the radio broadcast extends. For example, an auto dealership at a location within the broadcast radius of one or more radio stations can present advertisements related to the auto dealership on each of the radio stations to be aired at any time. Such advertisements need not be restricted to the theme of the radio station or the type of content being aired. The target consumer can be any listener within the broadcast radius of the one or more radio stations, where the broadcast radius of all the radio stations is the geographical region to which the auto dealership is trying to advertise.
An advertisement aired on a radio station can include the advertiser's contact information, e.g., street address, telephone number, internet address pointing to a web page on a web site hosted by the advertiser, and the like. The number of listeners who seek information about the advertiser upon listening to the advertisement can represent a number of impressions that can serve as a measure of the return on the investment made to advertise at a given radio station. The number of impressions can depend on one or more factors including the target audience for the product being advertised, the time at which the advertisement is presented, the proximity of the advertiser to a listener within the broadcast radius of the radio station, and the like.
Being able to estimate, or otherwise determine, the number of impressions generated by a particular advertisement or advertising campaign is a valuable measure of the impact and effectiveness of advertising dollars spent.